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Williamson County prepares for end to straight-party voting

Williamson County prepares for end to straight-party voting

Williamson County Elections Administrator Chris Davis said the county Elections Department will turn to the secretary of state’s office for guidance on legislation ending straight-party voting. Pictured: Davis demonstrates a ballot machine at a Commissioners Court meeting in 2016. Archive photo, Brad Stutzman

Straight-ticket voting — an option a majority of Williamson County voters used during both the November 2016 and November 2014 elections — is going away effective in 2020.

The Republican-led House Bill 25 cleared the state House and Senate, with Gov. Greg Abbott signing it into law June 1.

Williamson County Democratic Party Chairman John Bucy said the measure could help Republicans in urban areas like Houston, which tend to vote Democratic, while benefiting Democratic candidates in rural and suburban areas like those in Williamson County.

“People are going to have to evaluate candidates more,” he said, adding that the legislation could help elect more candidates like Terry Cook — Williamson County’s first Democratic commissioner in more than a decade.

State Rep. Tony Dale (R-Cedar Park) said he voted in favor of the House bill. “I’ve looked at my district in particular and the county in general, and I don’t think that the Republican advantage will be eroded,” he said.

Numbers favor GOP

The Leader has been tracking these numbers since 1992 and historically, in Williamson County, straight-ticket voting has benefited the Republican Party. The option shows up in even-year elections, where partisan races are on November ballots.

During the November 2016 presidential election, 205,862 out of 306,811 registered voters in the county, or 67 percent, cast ballots. Among those who voted, 117,010 (56.8 percent) exercised a straight-ticket option.

The GOP held a 19,231 straight-party voting edge over Democrats in November 2016. It also held a 17,729 straight-party edge over Democrats in November 2014 during the state’s general election for U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor races.

In November 2014, a total of 104,464 votes were cast in Williamson County, accounting for a 38 percent turnout among what was then a pool of 272,649 registered voters.

“Republicans, especially in Williamson County, have done quite well under the current rules, and I am hesitant to make any unnecessary changes to the law,” Republican Party Chairman Bill Fairbrother said via email.

On the other hand, Fairbrother later said voting patterns might not be affected, citing the built-in party loyalty straight-ticket voters tend to have.

“If you were inclined to vote straight-ticket Republican, you’ll see an ‘R’ by the name and (still) vote Republican,” Fairbrother said. “If you were inclined to vote straight-ticket Democratic, you’ll still vote Democratic.”

Fairbrother agreed with Bucy’s assertion that the push to eliminate the straight-party option came from GOP leaders in the state’s biggest cities and counties. Williamson County — although it is the 12th most populous of Texas’ 254 counties — doesn’t have the same political muscle as Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar or Travis counties.

As the Texas Tribune reported: “Though the state does not collect data on straight-ticket votes cast, there have generally been fewer Republican straight-ticket votes and more Democratic straight-ticket ballots in Texas’ largest 10 counties over the past four presidential elections.”

“It certainly is an urban-led effort,” Fairbrother said. “I know that the Dallas (County Republican) party chair and the Travis County (Republican) chair were in favor of it. The urban counties were in favor of it. They had the votes to make it pass.

“When the governor, lieutenant governor and Speaker (of the House) were all for something — which is a rare thing these days — most Republicans voted for it,” he said.

A change is coming

Williamson County Elections Administrator Christopher Davis said he and his staff will begin preparing for the new legislation, using Texas Secretary of State’s office for guidance.

Davis noted HB 25 stipulates the secretary of state will “adopt rules and establish procedures as necessary for the implementation of the elimination of straight-party voting to ensure that voters and county election administrators are not burdened by the implementation.”

“Some county election officers I’ve spoken with anticipate longer lines for elections that will be affected, once every two years,” Davis said via email. “Their thinking is that eliminating the straight-party option will have voters taking longer, on average, to vote.

Davis said he hopes that additional time voting should be offset by poll workers no longer having to explain the straight-party voting process. But Fairbrother said he’s not sure there will be an offset, especially in elections with lengthy ballots.

If, for example, each voter takes two additional minutes to mark their ballot – and a polling place processes 1,000 voters per day, during early voting – that’s 2,000 additional minutes, or a little more than 33 hours. If a polling place has 10 voting machines, that works out to 3.3 more hours per machine. Yet election hours are on a fixed schedule, so longer lines would ensue.

“We’ll have to monitor that, to make sure we don’t need more polling places or machines,” Fairbrother said.